Thrown Out at Midnight, I Saved a General by Dawn novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Offer

They gave me twenty minutes with him, in a gray room with a steel table.

Ansel and the colonel watched through the glass.

I had told them I would go in alone, and I had made Ansel promise not to come through the door.

He had promised with his jaw set, and I had kissed it.

Desmond sat in an orange jumpsuit with his wrists in front of him.

He had shaved.

His white hair was combed, and he looked as dignified as he had at the head of the table.

"Thank you for coming," he said. "I didn't think you would."

"You said you had the truth."

"I do. First, a question. Are they recording this?"

"Yes."

"Good. I'd like it on the record that I offered."

"Offered what?"

He leaned forward, and the chain at his wrists clinked against the steel.

"The estate. All of it, today. The shipping line, the defense division, every acre of waterfront between here and Virginia Beach. My lawyers have the transfer drawn up."

"In exchange for what?"

"A short statement. That the glass at the gala was an accident. A waiter's mistake, a cleaning agent, a misunderstanding."

"And the tea tin, and the ledger?"

"An old man's confusion about a sister he loved. A plea to the lesser charge."

He smiled gently.

"You would be the richest woman in the state, Tessa. Your general would have the finest doctors and the finest house. You'd never again stand in a kitchen and be told what to sign."

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